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  Apparatus, method and computer program product for annotating a meeting in an electronic calendarUSPTO Application #: 20070250366Title: Apparatus, method and computer program product for annotating a meeting in an electronic calendar Abstract: A method includes displaying an invitation to a scheduled event, such as a meeting, and, in response to user input, indicating the user's desire to accept to attend, tentatively accept to attend or decline to attend selected portions of the scheduled event. (end of abstract) Agent: Harrington & Smith, PC - Shelton, CT, US Inventor: Mikko Nurmi USPTO Applicaton #: 20070250366 - Class: 705008000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Data Processing: Financial, Business Practice, Management, Or Cost/price Determination, Automated Electrical Financial Or Business Practice Or Management Arrangement, Operations Research, Allocating Resources Or Scheduling For An Administrative Function The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070250366. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The teachings in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention relate generally to user interfaces for devices and methods pertaining to same and, more specifically, relate to calendar applications and to meeting requests. BACKGROUND [0002] A problem that can arise during the organization and execution of a meeting, including phone conferences, of any significant duration (e.g., more than one half hour) is that people can attend the meeting and leave before the meeting ends. In accordance with current computer-based meeting schedulers and calendar applications, such as one known as Microsoft Outlook.TM., a given user (meeting invitee) can one of accept a meeting request, reject a meeting request, or set the meeting request as tentative. As shown in the example of FIG. 3, a certain meeting invitee has received three meeting requests (Meetings 1-3). The meeting invitee has accepted Meeting 1, has tentatively accepted Meeting 2, and has rejected Meeting 3. As may be appreciated, the current approach to scheduling a user's time with regard to one or more meetings is inflexible. SUMMARY OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS [0003] The foregoing and other problems are overcome, and other advantages are realized, in accordance with the non-limiting and exemplary embodiments of this invention. [0004] In accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention there is provided a method that includes displaying an invitation to a scheduled event and, in response to user input, indicating the user's desire to accept to attend, tentatively accept to attend or decline to attend selected portions of the scheduled event. [0005] Further in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention there is provided a computer program product that is embodied in at least one computer readable storage media and that comprises program instructions the execution of which by at least one data processor results in operations that include displaying an invitation to a scheduled event and, in response to user input, indicating the user's desire to accept to attend, tentatively accept to attend or decline to attend selected portions of the scheduled event. [0006] Still further in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention there is provided a device that comprises at least one data processor; at least one memory coupled to the at least one data processor; at least one interface to a communications network that is coupled to the at least one data processor; and a user interface coupled to the at least one data processor. The data processor is responsive to receiving from the communications network an invitation to a scheduled event from an inviter to store data descriptive of the invitation in the memory and to display the invitation to the scheduled event using the user interface, and is further responsive to user input received from the user interface that indicates the user's desire to accept to attend, tentatively accept to attend or decline to attend selected portions of the scheduled event for marking the displayed invitation accordingly. [0007] Further in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention there is provided a calendar/scheduling application operable in a device and comprising means for displaying an invitation to a scheduled event and means, responsive to user input, for indicating the user's desire to selectively participate in or not participate in selected portions of the scheduled event. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0008] The foregoing and other aspects of the teachings of this invention are made more evident in the following Detailed Description, when read in conjunction with the attached Drawing Figures, wherein: [0009] FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram an embodiment of a wireless communications system having devices that are suitable for practicing the exemplary embodiments of this invention; [0010] FIG. 2 is a logic flow diagram that is illustrative of a method in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention; and [0011] FIG. 3 shows examples of various meetings displayed in a calendar with an invitee's responses in accordance with conventional practice. [0012] FIGS. 4 through 7 show non-limiting examples of various meetings displayed in a calendar with an invitee's responses in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0013] By way of introduction, the use of the exemplary embodiments of this invention improve and enhance current approaches to meeting requests. It is assumed that a first user (inviter) can create a meeting request and send it to one or more second users (invitees), using any conventional meeting request initiation procedure. In accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention, an invitee can selectively accept, tentatively accept, or reject a portion of the meeting. As a result, it becomes possible for the invitee to have meeting requests that he has accepted in part, rejected in part, and tentatively accepted in part. [0014] FIG. 3 shows the conventional case of calendar meeting requests in a computerized calendar application. As was noted above, the meeting invitee has accepted Meeting 1 in its totality, has tentatively accepted Meeting 2 in its totality, and has rejected Meeting 3 in its totality. Note that while these conditions are shown by cross-hatching, the use of different colors can be employed as well. In this conventional case there is provided no alternative where the invitee could accept part of a meeting request and reject another part of the meeting request, in the event that the invitee cannot or does not wish to attend the entire meeting. Further, there is no opportunity for a prospective attendee to indicate that s/he accepts or tentatively accepts participating in the meeting, either in whole or in part, by some means other than personal attendance. In some instances, meetings may be both in-person and teleconferenced or videoconferenced. The conventional electronic calendaring systems are not seen to offer the option of a participant indicating that they can participate by teleconference or videoconference rather than personal attendance. [0015] FIG. 4 shows calendar meeting requests or objects in a computerized calendar application as improved by the use of the exemplary embodiments of this invention. Note that in FIG. 4 the invitee has accepted 145A the beginning portion of Meeting 1 and has indicated a tentative acceptance 145C of the remaining portion of Meeting 1. With regard to Meeting 2, the invitee has indicated a tentative acceptance 145C of the initial portion of Meeting 2, and has indicated acceptance 145A of the remaining portion of Meeting 2. With regard to Meeting 3, the invitee has indicated a tentative acceptance 145C of the initial portion of Meeting 3, and has indicated that he declines 145B to attend the remaining portion of Meeting 3. Each displayed Meeting object may be considered to be a displayed invitation that is received from the inviter via a communications network, and that is modifiable in appearance by the user manipulating an user input device, such as a stylus or a mouse or some other type of pointing (or non-pointing) type of user input device. [0016] As can be appreciated, the inviter, when receiving these meeting invitations back from the invitees, has a much clearer indication of how may attendees there will be at different times during the meeting. This information can be used in a variety of ways, such as in determining the size of the meeting room that will actually be required throughout the meeting, as well as when planning for refreshments at different times during the meeting, as two non-limiting examples. [0017] The invitee may select a part of the meeting by using, for example, a stylus, a joystick, a mouse, or by any suitable user input device of an apparatus, such as a computer, that hosts the improved calendar application. After first selecting a portion of a meeting, such as through the use of a stylus, the invitee can select if he wants to accept, tentatively accept or reject the selected portion of the meeting, such as by touching a control button with the stylus. In FIG. 4 the elements 145A, 145B, 145C may be used to represent displayed control buttons that can be activated by the invitee to specify whether a selected portion of a meeting is accepted, declined, or tentatively accepted, respectively. [0018] As is shown in the example of FIG. 5, the invitee can accept, tentatively accept or decline different parts of the same meeting. In this non-limiting example a person has been invited to two meetings that are scheduled during an overlapping period of time. In accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention the invitee has accepted the beginning portion of the Workshop (e.g., from 8:00 AM until 10:30 AM). She has then declined a next portion of the Workshop and has instead accepted the beginning portion of the Staff Update meeting that begins at 10:30 AM. The invitee has then declined the remaining portion of the Staff Update meeting, and has indicated her acceptance of the remaining portion of the Workshop. This ability to selectively accept, tentatively accept and decline only portions of a meetings is thus clearly an advance over the conventional practice depicted in FIG. 3, where the invitee was enabled to only accept, tentatively accept and decline entire meetings, and not selected portions thereof. [0019] In a further exemplary embodiment a meeting request can include sub-meetings that are part of the meeting request, as shown in FIG. 6. The calendar application is enabled to detect the agenda with hours and mark (e.g., by different colors) different meeting parts in the calendar entry view displayed to the user. Reference can be made to the following example, where rejected part of the meeting is shown in bold and italics. This agenda corresponds to the Workshop meeting shown in FIG. 5. TABLE-US-00001 AGENDA-Workshop 8:00--9:00 Opening and Introductions 9:00--10:30 Venture Overview 10:30--11:00 Schedule 11:00--13:00 Benchmarking Update 13:00--13:30 Vendor Update 13:30--13:50 Remarks by Vice President, Engineering 13:50--14:50 Financial Update 14:50--15:20 Technology Competitiveness 15:20--16:00 Question & Answer, Closing Remarks Continue reading... 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